What hurts the most
by Bear3126
Summary: Ron is seriously hurt on a mission. Drakken and Shego save his life, but why?
1. What The Sitch

A/N all right...Here is the deal on this story...My muse decided to pay me a visit at work one day and this was the result...If you don't understand what's going on..don't worry..all will be explained in the next chapter...The M Rating I gave this piece was due to blood and mild language..figured better safe then sorry...that's all for now

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A loud rumble echoed down the hallways and corridors of the lair until it reached Drakken and Shego's ears. "What was that noise Shego?"

"I don't know doc, I would guess it was something heavy falling over" Shego responded with a thinly masked sigh of frustration. Sometimes Drakken really got on her nerves with questions that bordered on imbecilic.

"Go check it out would you Shego. I hope it wasn't mothers china cabinet, she would kill me if anything happened to it." Drakken turned and started to rummage through a pile of rubble seeking out anything salvageable.

"Then why do you have it here anyway? You know that every time we try something, Princess and the buffoon always come and blow up the place" Shego called over her shoulder as she started for the corridor that streamers of dust were now emanating from

"Curse you Kim Possible, every time you blow up one of my lairs I have to start my CCR collection all over again!" Drakken muttered under his breath as he flipped a broken CD case over his shoulder and dug deeper into the pile.

Shego walked along the corridor fuming. Princess had beaten them again, though that was hardly a surprise these days, but why did the buffoon always have to go and 'accidentally' hit the self destruct button? Why did Drakken continue to put those on easily accessible places anyway? She had just lost yet another entire wardrobe to those two and custom made jump suits weren't cheap these days. Silently she thanked the powers that be that she had bought her own place last month and moved most of her stuff there to prevent these kinds of things from happening.

She stepped around a corner and groaned in aggravation. A section of the ceiling had collapsed and blocked most of the corridor, right in front of her quarters! "I swear Ill get those two for this next time, their butts are mine!" Stepping foreword to survey the damage, she was startled to hear moaning

coming from the pile. Side stepping around a large piece of the ceiling, she moved foreword on cats paws trying to determine the source of the sounds.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw blonde hair and an arm sticking out the mass of broken concrete and re-bar. She approached slowly fearful of what she might find, hoping that the person in there wasn't who she thought it was. Her heart dropped like a stone when she finally saw his face. _What the hell is he doing here? I thought he left with Princess_ Crouching down next to him, she brushed a bit of hair away from his eyes.

"Help me"

The voice that issued from his mouth was weak and frighteningly shallow. His hand, which up till that time had been moving slightly suddenly fell limp and his eyes closed slowly.

"Hey Doc, get your blue butt over here, we have a serious problem!" She turned back to the prone figure in front of her and started feeling his wrist for a pulse. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she managed to find it. It was weak, but it was there. She checked the large purple bump on his head and

decided that it wasn't life threatening. She started to pull some of the rubble off his body as Drakkens foot steps approached the corner of the corridor she was in.

"what's wrong Shego? It was mothers china cabinet wasn't it" Drakken whined. He stepped around the corner and froze trying to comprehend what his eyes were telling him. The roof had collapsed and Shego was pulling debris off of what looked like a body. It took a moment to realize whose body it was trapped under thousands of pounds of broken concrete. "What is he doing here Shego" He ran foreword and started to try and help her get Stoppable out of the mess he had gotten himself into. His foot suddenly slipped as he was picking up a large piece and he crashed to the floor. Picking himself up he searched for what had caused his sudden loss of traction. His brain threatened to shut down as he saw blood leaking from under the pile.

"Hurry Shego. He's bleeding!" Franticly the two doubled their efforts to extract the teen from what was threatening to become his death. No words were spoken between them as they threw all their bodies had to give into extricating the young man. Finally they managed to pull him free and the pile collapsed in upon its-self again where his body had been not moments before. Drakken started to check him to see where the blood was coming from when he turned around and retched violently.

Shego looked at her boss wondering what was going on. "What's up Doc?" She hated to use such a cliche line in moments like this but it usually helped to lighten his spirits and made him easier to deal with. Her only response was Drakkens hand pointing shakily towards Ron's lower body. Turning to look, she felt her stomach tighten and had to force the bile back down to where it belonged.

Ron's left leg was so horribly mangled from the knee down, it didn't even look like a human appendage any more. Blood was quickly forming a pool as it leaked from the shredded flesh. She couldn't even tell what was supposed to be his foot and what was his leg, it was all just a wadded up mess. She shook herself back to reality. "Drakken, grab some towels, we have to try and stop this bleeding...Drakken!...DRAKKEN!"

Finally the blue man seemed to recover from stupor and regain his whits. "What?"

"GO GET SOME TOWELS OR SOMETHING AND WARM UP THE HOVERCRAFT! We have to get him to a hospital!" Shego turned back to Ron's body and wracked her brain to remember the Combat Medicine course she had taken.

Drakken ran back to the main room and began his frenzied search for anything made of fabric. "What the hell" He exclaimed as he ran from crate to crate. "Why did that have to happen to him! FINALLY!" He gathered an armload of towels and sheets from a shattered storage crate and delivered them to Shego before making a mad dash to the small hanger bay where the hover craft was hidden from the explosion. After checking all the vital components he fired it up

and maneuvered it into the main room.

Using her plasma, Shego carefully cut away Ron's pants leg and what remained of his boot. She wrapped the decimated appendage as carefully as she could and pressed it tight to the spots that were bleeding the worse trying to stave off the flow. Her hand hit something hard in one of the pockets on his right leg. Fishing around in the pocket, she hoped that it was what she thought it was. With a triumphant shout she pulled Ron's communicator free. At least she could call Ron's computer friend for help, he had to help her...right? She shoved the device into her body suit and laid out a sheet to put his body on so they could carry him more easily. Drakken came around the corner just as she had finished laying the sheet out. "Help me get him on here, we can use it as a stretcher."

Gingerly the two of them picked up his body and maneuvered it over the sheet. Ron's shattered leg twitched suddenly as his muscles reacted to his brain trying to regain control. His eyes flew open as a guttural scream of pure anguish erupted from his lips shocking the two villains turned rescuers, causing them to drop him when he was still suspended between them evoking another scream before he lapsed into unconsciousness again. Shakily they positioned him in the middle of the sheet and picked up the makeshift stretcher.

Moving as quickly as possible they made their way to the main room and loaded him into the waiting hover craft. Drakken bent over Ron's still form as Shego took the controls. Carefully piloting through the lair, she prayed that the hanger doors were still open. The hover craft emerged in the hanger bay and she thanked her lucky stars as the cool night air blew in from outside. She gunned the engines to maximum power and launched the craft into the sky.

As soon as they were air borne she flipped the safety override for the engines and cranked the throttle as far as it would go. She pulled the communicator from her suit and stared at it. "No labels on the buttons" she cursed to herself. "How the hell do I make an outgoing call with this thing." She started randomly pressing buttons until, much to her relief, the computer geeks face adorned the screen.

"Hey Ron" Wade replied not bothering to glance at the screen on his desk as he finished making arrangements for Ron's pick-up from the latest mission.

"What?"

Wade jerked his head around as he recognized Shego's voice. _What is she doing with Ron's communicator? This isn't good_ "What's going on Shego? Why do you have Ron's communicator?"

"All right nerd linger, I'm only gonna say this once so take notes because I don't have time for twenty questions" she looked pointedly at the round face on the screen. "Stoppable has been hurt...bad. Massive damage to his lower left leg and foot. I've stopped the bleeding but I don't know how long its gonna hold. He has a nasty head wound, maybe a concussion, we are trying to keep him awake. He's borderline on going into shock, we are doing what we can but we have limited resources. You need to clear the air space between us and Middleton Hospital. Are you getting all this?"

Wade nodded as his fingers flew over the keyboard, all emotion gone from his face. He had a feeling this wasn't a trap.

"Good. Notify the hospital to get the ER team ready. Have them clear us room in the parking lot. ETA 15 minutes if the engines hold out that long."

Wade looked up from his keyboard. "Is that the whine I'm hearing?"

Shego was beyond annoyed, she was trying to save Stoppable's life and this recluse of a computer geek was asking about the engines. "Yeah, they don't seem to like running at 120% for this long. Now get your head in the game, we don't have a lot of time." She was interrupted by Drakken shouting at the back of the hovercraft.

"Shego! He's bleeding again and I cant stop it! We don't have any more clotting agent on board!"

"Check under the console, I think I saw some in there" she called over her shoulder before turning back to the black device in her hand.

Wade shifted in his chair as he finished communications with the hospital. "Shego, pull the cord out of the back of the communicator and connect it to the data port on the hovercraft, Ill fly you in on remote." This was serious and he knew it. He had never seen Shego look as deadpan as she did right now.

Flecks of blood covered what he could see of her face and she hadn't even bothered to wipe them off. Ron's life was hanging in the balance and he felt like he wasn't doing enough.

She looked at him in mild shock but followed his directions. _Can he really do that? _ "Good to go," she announced as the plug slid home and clicked in place.

"I've got you on GPS, taking over flight control...now. Go back and help Drakken, Ill handle things from here. The hospital is ready and waiting for you and the air space is clear." Wades hand glided over the keys as he adjusted the altitude. He shunted power and coolant from the non-vital systems feeding it all into the engines taking the power output way past redline.

Shego stumbled a bit as the hovercraft surged foreword, picking up more speed. The whine from the engines reached a frenzied pitch and she prayed that the young super genius knew what he was doing. She knelt next to the blonde form on the floor and checked his pulse again. It was getting weaker and she didn't know how much longer he was going to hold out.

"I couldn't find any more clotting agent and he's loosing a lot of blood!" Drakken was worried. He wanted to beat Possible, but not like this, never like this. He had always respected Ron for doing the things he did despite having no ability what so ever for it.

Shego grimaced as she saw the pool at the teens feet getting steadily larger. _We aren't going to make it in time, He's lost too much blood_ Green plasma flared to life at her finger tip and she pressed it to the wound tract cauterizing the leaking blood vessels. _Ill be damned if I'm going to let Kimmie hold _

_this over my head_

Ron moaned as the stench of burned flesh reached his nostrils. HIS FLESH his mind screamed at him. Flashes of Shego's and Drakkens faces assaulted his eyes. He had to get away from them but his body refused to move. Splinters of pain radiated up his leg as the vehicle he was riding in lurched suddenly underneath him. Where was Kim? Why wasn't she fighting off Drakken and Shego? What were they doing to him? He closed his eyes wanting nothing more then to go to sleep. The pain in his leg started to subside as his body relaxed.

"Stay with us Stoppable, I'm not letting you go that easily" Shego screamed at him. She put her fingers to his neck but felt nothing. "WAKE UP DAMN YOU!" She charged her fist with a low dose of plasma and slammed it into his chest. "WAKE UP!" Her fist slammed home again.

"I've got a pulse" Drakken exclaimed as he bent over Ron's leg again.

Shego sat back on her heels wiping her face on her sleeve. She covered his body with another blanket and went back to the communicator. "Patch me through to Kim."

"One second" Wade replied through tight lips. He made another flight correction before transferring the feed to Kim. "Done. Kim and her mother have been advised of Ron's condition and are already en-route." He had used the communicators remote camera to monitor Ron and scan his body. To say the results worried him would have been a grosse understatement. The extent of the damage to Ron's leg had made his blood run cold. No chance of repairing wounds that extensive. Ron was going to loose his foot and lower leg, and Wade knew it.

Shego steadied herself as Kim's image appeared on the small screen. This wasn't going to be easy.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS SACRED IS GOING ON SHEGO!" Kim's voice erupted from the devices speakers. "What the hell did you do to Ron?"

"First off we didn't do anything to Stoppable, a section of the roof collapsed on him back at the lair. What he was doing there I don't know, I thought he had left with you. Second, He's hurt really bad. Major damage to his left leg and foot and some trauma to his head. We are almost to the hospital, your hacker friend is piloting."

Kim's face paled as Shego's words hit home. If it wasn't for Wade contacting her first she would have thought it was some plot of Drakkens to capture her. Her hands were still trembling from the images Wade had showed her. Ron's normally peach skin had been ash white and there was a pool of blood the size of a beach ball at his feet. She had watched as Shego cauterized his leg, Ron's moans sending another torrent of tears down her cheeks.

The Possibles station wagon tore down the highway, its speedometer pegged out at over 100 mph. Anne Possible had a vise grip on the steering wheel as she weaved around and between cars. Wades message to Kim had hit like a sledge hammer. Ron was injured and dying! He was a son to her even though she had not borne him into this world. She had called the hospital to verify that they were ready for Ron's arrival and was relived that there were outside waiting for him.

She swerved suddenly as a strange vehicle roared past them not 10 feet off the ground. -That must be them- Relief flooded her body for a brief moment until she noticed that the exhaust vents on the rear of the hovercraft were glowing hot enough to light up the dark road ahead of her. Her foot buried the

accelerator into the carpet as a lane opened up in front of her. As they came over the top of another hill she darted for the exit to the hospital and slammed on the brakes careening into the parking lot just as the hovercraft was touching down. Both doors on the car flew open and the red heads took off at

a dead run.

"Get that damned stretcher over here! That's the third time I have had to restart his heart!" Shego grabbed the corners of the blanket Ron was laying on and carefully slid it across the blood streaked floor of the small craft. With the help of the orderlies she transferred him to the waiting stretcher. Her body collapsed onto the floor utterly exhausted. Had they made it in time? Was he going to live? Questions crashed around in her mind as she watched Ron's body being rushed into the building followed by a crowd of hospital staff and a near hysterical red headed cheerleader. She managed to turn her head enough to see Drakken curled up in the corner sucking his thumb. She honestly wouldn't have believed that he could have handled that as well as he did if she hadn't been there to see it. Where did he keep that will and determination bottled up when he was trying to take over the word or fighting Kimmie? _Guess i don't know him as well as I thought_

She closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. They had to get out of there. Global Justice would be coming any minute to haul her and Drakken away and she wasn't in any kind of mood to deal with them.

"Shego?" Wades voice called her attention back to reality.

Using the side of the craft as a support, she managed to lever herself off the floor and over to the seat. She sat down heavily and picked up the communicator off the floor. "Yeah?" She barely had enough energy to talk much less be her usual charming self. The 20 minute flight from the lair to the hospital had completely drained her.

"I just got word from Kim, you got him there just in time. They have managed to stabilize him somewhat, meaning he is not in any immediate danger. A few minutes more and we would have lost him." Wade looked at the image of Shego on his screen. He was glad that he hadn't notified the authorities of the situation. What he had seen Shego and Drakken do for the past 15 minutes was beyond the realm of comprehension and they deserved a break more then anyone.

Shego laughed dryly. "You were the one driving, we would still be flying if I had been in control." She thought for a moment. "The engines are fried aren't they?"

"To say the least. I am amazed they lasted that long with that much power going through them." Wade contemplated before speaking, his fingers dancing on the keyboard again. "Just sit tight Shego, I'm having the hospital send some people out to get Drakken and yourself. Both of you are completely worn out. And don't worry, I never notified GJ or the police so you are safe."

She had to admit, this Wade character knew how to get the job done. _No wonder Princess relies on him so much_ "Thanks, I think I am going to sleep now" she muttered before letting the communicator slip from her fingers and closing her eyes. _Today sucked_


	2. Discussions

The sky blazed with oranges and reds as the sun crested the horizon, lighting up the small room where the raven haired woman slept fitfully. Her lithe form rolled back and forth across the mattress as images flooded her dreams. Images tainted with blood and shredded flesh filled her subconscious causing a light sheen of sweat to coat her body as she fought against their intrusion. Her body was exhausted and her strength quickly waning from the battle against her psyche.

The nightmarish world was punctuated with flashes of an ashen, freckled face with unruly blond hair plastered against the pasty skin. Colorless lips formed words that she shouldn't hear, lifeless blue eyes piercing her green ones. Without warning, sound returned to the dream scape as screams of agony reverberated through the empty world causing her to clutch at her ears. The sound escalated to a feverish pitch and she answered back with a scream of her own.

Light assaulted her senses as she bolted upright in the bed clutching the thin sheet to her chest. Ragged breaths echoed faintly in the room while her body trembled silently. She wiped feebly at the beads of sweat on her brow and glanced around the room suddenly realizing that she wasn't in her quarters at the lair. This room was bright white, not shades of green and black. The soft padded recliner and matching sofa that normally sat against the wall had been replaced with furniture of stainless steel and white plastic.

After several moments of panic, memories of what had transpired the previous night filtered through the fog in her head. Glimpses of Ron and his decimated leg flashed through her mind followed by fuzzy recollections of the harrowing flight from the lair to the hospital. Collapsing back onto the mattress, she clamped her hands over here eyes trying to hold off the movie that was playing in her head. Slowly the barrage subsided and normality was restored to her thought processes.

"So, finally awake I see."

Shego looked up to find Kim standing at the door to her room. She was leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed over her chest. Shego couldn't see her face but the tone in her voice gave distinct clues to her current mood. Not that she could blame Kim for feeling that way right now, but couldn't she at least give her a few minutes to collect herself.

"Awake is one way of putting it I suppose" Shego responded sourly running her fingers through the jet black tresses in a vain attempt to smooth the damage her nightmares had caused. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"We need to talk" Kim responded sternly, trying desperately to maintain her composure

"You want to talk about last night...Right?" Shegos voice was weary with exhaustion.

"I think an explanation is in order, as a start."

"First off, am I free to leave?" Shego inquired though she was sure what the answer was. She was the most wanted criminal in eleven countries after all.

"After we finish our talk you can leave when ever you want to. My mom did say that she thinks you should stay for a day or so to make sure you are all right." Noticing Shegos confused expression, she hurried to explain herself. "You used a lot of your plasma powers last night. I am guessing that's why you fell asleep before you even made it inside."

"Fair enough, just give me a moment then we can talk" Shego rose from the bed moving stiffly to the bathroom in the corner of the room. Closing the door behind her, she turned to the mirror and stared at her reflection for a moment. She looked like hell. Felt like it too. "I'm getting too old for this," she murmured to herself. Bending over the sink she splashed some water on her face. After wiping off the excess she turned and went back into the room where Kim was still waiting.

"Feeling better?" Kim asked nervously. Being this close to Shego was nothing new to her. Being this close to her without the verbal jabs and taunts was uncharted territory The only response she got was a noncommittal shrug and the green skinned woman turning to the window.

"Now that we have the formalities out of the way...What the hell happened last night" Kim demanded. She had a feeling what the response would be but she had to be sure.

Shego exhaled slowly but didn't turn to face her nemesis. Good ol Princess, straight and to the point. "Well, after you and Stoppable blew up the lair Drakken and I high tailed out of the area until the two of you left. At least we had thought both of you were gone. We saw the helicopter fly off so we went back to see if anything could be salvaged. About 5 minutes after we got back inside, I heard something fall so I went to see what it was. Imagine my surprise when I saw part of the ceiling on top of Stoppable."

A slight shudder ran down her spine as she pounded the pause button on her mental playback. "Drakken helped me pull him out and we brought him to the hospital, that's where you came in." She still couldn't bring herself to look at the redhead. She had to come to terms with her own issues before she could share in someone else's. That particular horizon was a long way off.

"How do I know you are telling me the truth Shego. How do I know that you aren't the one who put him under that piece of concrete" Kim challenged. She doubted that Shego would so cold hearted to do that to Ron then take him to the hospital, but she knew what lengths the villainess would go to trying to save her own skin.

Shego couldn't help but smirk at Kim's words, She wasn't surprised in the least that she didn't trust her. "I would say you could check the footage from the security cameras, but you and Stoppable destroyed them when you blew up the lair. I guess you are just going to have to take my word on it. Besides, in all the years that you have been coming after me and Dr. Screwloose have you ever known me to injure any one if I could avoid it? Even slightly?"

Kim caught herself as she was about to retort. She couldn't recall a single time that she had ever done anything to someone that required more then a band-aid or and ice pack. Shego was primarily a thief after all, albeit one that was well trained in martial arts with plasma powers to boot, but still mainly just a thief. Seriously hurting people was not her thing.

"What the hell was he doing there anyway? Why didn't he go with you" Shego inquired. The question had been plaguing her ever since she had found the buffoon. Her mind corrected her before the thought was completed. She couldn't think of Stoppable as the buffoon any more. The title seemed to cheapen him now, leaving a bad taste in her mouth. No, he wasn't a buffoon at all. Not now. Maybe not ever again. Had he ever really been one to begin with? She terminated that line of thinking before it got too far along, best to take things one step at a time.

Shego's conscience was remarking how much one of the clouds outside the window looked like a mans head when a warning light flashed in her brain. It only took a moment for her to analyze the room and determine what was wrong. The silence in the room had become deafening while she was waiting for Kim to answer her question. Against her better judgment, she turned to face the younger woman. Tears were adorning the deep green eyes as she knew they would be. "I guess today isn't going to be much better" she muttered under her breath. She turned back to the window doing the only thing she could think to do in this situation, wait for Kim to calm down and return to reality.

Recollections of the previous night flashed in Kim's mind and the guilt that had been brewing in her chest deepened. Somewhere deep in her subconscious she knew that what happened was nothing more than an unfortunate series of events, but that did little to quell the feeling that she could have prevented it. What happened to Ron was her fault and no one could convince her otherwise.

Leaning back against the door frame, she screwed her eyes shut. "The transport Wade called only had room for one. I had a date last night so Ron volunteered to stay and wait for another ride" Kim paused then swallowing hard against the lump in her throat. "I wanted to stay until Wade could get us both a ride but Ron didn't want me to miss my date. He insisted that I go, that he would be fine while he waited." Turning away from the older woman she dabbed at her eyes with her shirt sleeve. Letting Shego see her cry was not something she was willing to do.

"I see" Shego mused out loud not bothering to turn from the window. "And let me guess, you blame yourself for what happened. In your mind you should have been there to protect him and keep him from getting hurt. No offense Kimmie but even for as smart as you are, you are terribly naive in the ways of the world." Shego paused then and turned to look at the redhead to make sure she was paying attention. Satisfied that she had Kim's undivided attention she continued.

"I have been around long enough to know how the world works. Sometimes things just happen whether we want them to or not. Personally I believe in fate to a certain degree. If something is supposed to happen then it will happen regardless of what you do to prevent it. If you are supposed to die at on a certain day, then you will die on that day even if you barricade yourself in a concrete bomb shelter 2 miles underground. On top of that I have been around you long enough to know how you work. You always have to be the one in control. You cant stand to be on the side lines while things are happening around you. Not a bad trait most of the time unless you let it control you, which you do."

Words failed Kim at that moment. How could she respond? She opened her mouth to say something, anything in defense but Shego never gave her the chance.

The green skinned woman slowly rose from the bed and began to move towards the smaller female in the predatory manor that had become second nature to her. "You cant change what happened Princess. You cant go back and tell Stoppable to stay out of that hall. And you cant stand there feeling sorry for yourself over something that was never in your control to begin with. The sooner you accept that fact the better off you will be. Shit happens, deal with it! If not for your sake then for his because playing pity party with yourself doesn't help anyone." She stopped with her face inches away from Kim's, bright green eyes staring hard into deep green ones. "So..." her tone was quiet but with a hard edge to it, "Are you going to keep busting my chops to distract yourself from what happened to your boy toy, or are you going to suck it up and start acting like an adult?"

Kim set her mouth and leaned in closer to Shego until their noses touched. "I will do what needs to be done no matter what. I am here for Ron and I will always be here for him. Ron is not my boy toy and never will be, he is my best friend!" Her defiant streak came to the forefront and made its self known. No body got to talk to her like that except her parents and Ron. Shego was none of the above.

If it wasn't for her present company Shego would have laughed. She loved knowing exactly which of the cheerleaders buttons to push. Kim was a genius in her own right. Her main problem was that she let her emotions over rule logic sometimes. All she needed was a little reality check now and then. Keeping her balanced out was usually Stoppable's job. She might have gone a bit over board on the reality check part but better too much then not enough. Stoppable needed her sane and logical, not emotional and irrational.

"Good" Shego replied with a grin. "Now that we have the general chit chat out of the way, what say we focus on the steak and not the peas?" Plopping herself down on the bed, her demeanor became softer and more serious. "How is Stoppable doing?" Genuine concern was evident in her voice.

Twenty four hours ago Kim would not have believed that Shego gave a damn about Ron, but everything had changed since then was starting to change her view of the older woman. With a sigh she sat down in the chair pulling her knees to her chest. "He's alive. He lost a lot of blood last night but he will be fine for the most part. His um...His leg was pretty trashed. They had to amputate. His foot and most of his lower leg was too badly damaged to rebuild." Her voice which was usually strong and vibrant was just barely above a whisper as she spoke the words. "There is a high risk of infection right now though. The surgeons cleaned it up as best they could but only time will tell if they got all of it out. Apparently there was some kind of mold in the lair, his leg was full of it. They don't know how much might have gotten into his blood stream." The words barely made it out of her mouth as her arms snaked around her knees hugging them tightly.

It was Shego's turn to be silent. She knew all to well the horrors that serious infections could wreak on the human body, having witnessed its affects on one her class mates in high school. One look at Kim told her the younger woman was barely maintaining her composure. She had little doubt that Kim's mother had given her a full briefing on what could happen.

"Before we get headed down a road that neither of us really wants to be on right now.." Kim interrupted "There are a few things that I have been wondering about."

"You want to know why I saved him? For one I am not a monster. Believe it or not I do value human life and I see no reason for someone to kick the bucket if there is a way to save them. There was a chance to rescue Stoppable and I took it. Beyond that my reasons are my own and really are not any concern of yours." She stressed the last part of her statement challenging Kim to try and force the issue further.

Kim took the hint, moving to the next query on her list. "Why were you holding back last night?" She knew it was a somewhat dangerous accusation to make considering the pride Shego took in her work but, in her eyes there was deffinantly some punch pulling.

"Meh, I wasn't really feeling the need to defend his project. He comes up with really dumb ideas, but that one took the cake."

"I'll agree with you on that one," Kim replied with a short laugh. "Why do you try to defend him anyway? I mean, there has to be something more constructive you could do with your abilities."

Shego's eyes narrowed into slits as she studied the redhead. "Your not trying to pull me into some kind of '20 questions' are you?"

"Not at all" Kim said defensively. "You seem to be willing to talk so I figured I could try and get answers to some things I've been wondering about."

"OK, that would be 20 questions. I don't do peer to peer bonding Pumpkin, not my style. You want to know something personal about me then your gonna have to get me drunk first."

"Are you saying you want me to take you out for drinks? I'm still in high school."

"No. And I know your still in high school. I get chatty when I have a good buzz going."

"I can't afford that. I barely make enough to buy some clothes once in a while."

"You want answers then its gonna cost you."

"I'll wait."

"The offer may not be around later."

"I'll take my chances."

"Your choice, don't say I didn't warn you," Shego responded with a slight smirk.

"I do have one more question that I would like an answer to." Kim paused for a moment, making sure that the other woman was paying attention. "Why did you go through all the trouble to save him?"

"Normally I would say that Stoppable is out of his depth in a parking lot puddle, but he does have his moments. I like him well enough in my own way and don't want anything bad to happen to him. He's a good man" Shego paused feeling wistful. "Better then most truth be told," she added quietly after a moment . "He didn't deserve what happened to him. The Doc or me maybe...but not him. Unfortunately the world does not judge what happens to a person on the kind of life they have lived. If it did, Jack Hench would be living in a cardboard box somewhere."

"True enough." It was the only response Kim could think of.

"The world you have been living in is just a preamble. The real world is ugly and harsh and dangerous. Up till yesterday, you and Stoppable had been damn lucky. His luck finally ran out and he got tagged. One day the same will happen to you, only yours might be a toe tag. You would do well to keep that in mind."

Kim was silent as Shego's words sunk in. There was more truth in them then she wanted to admit. They had been lucky, almost unnaturally so, until now. Ever since Ron had been stabilized, she had been seriously considering the reality of what they were doing. At any given moment, things could go horribly wrong. She had skills, even Ron had skill, but that did not offer any sort of a guarantee that they would always go home at the end of the day. One microsecond is all it would take to go from calling home to let her parents know that she was on her way, into a call from some official saying how sorry they were for what happened.

"Well, it has been a memorable chat Pumpkin, but I think it's time I got going. Drakken and I have some things to discuss, in light of recent events."

It was several moments before her words managed to shake Kim from her thoughts.

"Wait, what? Your leaving?"

"I'm not a fan of hospitals, and no offense to your mother but I am perfectly fine physically," she quipped as she started towards the door.

"Wait a second Shego." To her surprise, the villainess actually did stop and look back at her curiously. "I just wanted to say thank you, for helping Ron like you did."

Shego was too shocked to respond for a moment. Did her nemesis really just thank her, not that some sort of gratitude wasn't warranted, but it was still strange to hear the honest sincerity. "My pleasure Kim."

Shego started to turn back to the door when she stopped and looked back at Kim. "Oh...before I forget, would you please give something to Stoppable for me when he wakes up?"

Kim smiled slightly and nodded. "I would be glad to."

A grin crossed Shego's face as she returned to when Kim stood waiting. Before the red head could think to act, Shego took Kim's face gently in both hands capturing her lips in a deep kiss.

Kim as too shocked by the action to resist. The kiss was not romantic or passionate, but full of emotion just the same. It only lasted a few seconds before Shego pulled away with a broad grin. It was several seconds before Kim found her voice. "What the hell Shego," she exclaimed wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Shego had just kissed her! That was so wrong sick not to mention awk-weird. Wasn't it?

Shego couldn't help but laugh. "I figured that Stoppable deserves that after everything that he has been through so don't read too much into it. Besides, I am sure he would prefer to receive that from you rather then me. If I gave it to him in person he would probably end up with some kind of complex or something." With that Shego turned and walked to the door. "You had better give that too him too, word for word so to speak, not just some quick peck on the cheek. Ill be back to check on him in a few days," she called over her shoulder as she disappeared into the hallway leaving Kim standing in the room dumbfounded.

* * *

A/N Don't worry about Shego kissing Kim, this story will not morph into a Kigo.


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